Police raid
Police raidFlash 90

Police have recently released a number of the youths arrested Sunday morning during a raid on Givat HaBladim near Kohav HaShahar. The rest of the detainees will be freed later today. 

A total of nine people were arrested for unknown reasons on Sunday in raids on Givat HaBladim as well as Adei Ad near Shilo. 

Attorney to one of the detainees, Itamar Ben-Gvir said the release was expected, "but unfortunately not as expected as the police's attempts to prove to politicians they are working." 

"Police should offer a 'tranquilizer' to these angry politicians," Ben-Gvir added. "Arrests must be carried out as a result of information rather than gut feelings or whims."

According to Ben-Gvir, crackdowns on right-wing Jews have done nothing to calm tensions in Israeli society - rather, the opposite. 

"Instead of the Shin Bet and Israel Police doing some soul-searching, they continue to act like bulls in a China shop. These arrests frustrate many youths. The use of administrative detention without trial and without evidence only increases feelings of anger."

Noting the Shin Bet's right to investigate Jewish youths, Ben-Gvir questioned whether they were being treated the same as Palestinian terrorists who "throw firebombs in Beit Hanina or fire on Jewish homes in Pisgat Zeev." 

"The feeling is that Israel has created two sets of laws - one for the 'hilltop youth' and the other for Arab rioters...The question is if the treatment is equal and the answer to that, unfortunately, is no."

Recently, the Israel Police has conducted a number of raids to crack down on "Jewish terrorism," after an arson attack at the Palestinian Arab village of Duma, which killed an infant and fatally wounded his father. No suspects have yet been identified in that attack.